The main purpose of this work is to put within reach of divinity students, priests and the educated laity such information as is required for the intelligent use of the Vulgate Psalter.<br><br>An attempt has been made in a general introduction to the Book of Psalms to outline the history and the chief characteristics of the Vulgate Psalter as a whale. In the Commentary the psalms of the Vulgate are studied in detail as independent units, and it is hoped that the introduction, translation, and notes which accompany each psalm will make it clear that the Vulgate Psalter is a collection of beautiful and reasonably intelligible poems. Where the text of the Vulgate is obscure, light has been freely sought in the Hebrew Psalter. Every Hebrew word and phrase quoted in the Commentary has, how ever, been transliterated and explained, and no specialist know ledge (beyond what this work itself supplies) is necessary for the understanding of any statement contained in the Commentary. It will be found that the English version of the Vulgate psalms given in this work is explained and justified in the notes which follow the individual psalms.<br><br>Some surprise may be felt that the work contains so few references to authorities. But professional students of Scripture will probably recognise that this is not due to any neglect of the important contributions to every department of psalm-exegesis made by modern scholarship. Modern research has been constantly kept in sight, and its results, so far as they could be regarded as sound and pertinent, have been incorporated in the present study. In the great mass of existing literature dealing with the Psalter it is difficult to find anything valuable which has not been put forward as an independent personal contribution by several writers.